Colin Powell Checks His Party: Republicans ‘Still Look Down On Minorities,’ Criticizes Racist Swipes At President

On Sunday, well-respected former Secretary of State and Statesman Colin Powell gave a stiff critique of his party on “Meet the Press” with David Gregory, declaring that Republicans need to reinvent themselves by rejecting their racist and elitist elements.

Powell has come to be unilaterally respected by politicians on both sides of the aisle for his candidly clear examinations of both national and international issues and policy. Still, last October, Powell angered many within his party when he endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election for the second time, proclaiming:

I’m not comfortable with what Governor Romney is proposing for his economic plan. I have concerns about his views on foreign policy. The Governor, who was speaking on Monday night at the debate, was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. So I’m not quite sure which Governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy.

With the wounds barely healed from a dramatic loss against Democrats in November, Powell wasted no time re-opening those wounds to give his own party the only type of medicine it needs: the unadulterated truth.

“I think what the Republican party needs to do now is take a very hard look at
itself and understand that the country has changed. The country is changing
demographically and if the Republican party does not change along with that
demographic, they are going to be in trouble.
…

“When we see that in one more generation, the minorities of America — African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans — will be the majority of the country, you can’t go around saying, ‘We don’t want to have a solid immigration policy. We are going to dismiss the 47 percent, we are going to make it hard for these minorities to vote,’ as they did in the last election.

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“What did that produce?

“The court struck most of that down, but most importantly, it caused people to
turn out and stand in line because these Republicans were trying to keep us from voting.”

Further underscoring his point, Powell took off the gloves when he addressed the racist comments that were made about President Obama during the campaign:

“There’s also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party. What do I mean from that? What I mean by that is that they still sort of look down on minorities. How can I evidence that?

“When I see a former governor [Sarah Palin] say that the President is ‘shucking and jiving,’ ‘that’s a racial-era slave term. When I see another former governor after the President’s first debate, when he didn’t do very well, say that the President was ‘lazy.’ He didn’t say he was slow, he was tired, he didn’t do well. He said he was ‘lazy.’

“That may not mean anything to most Americans but to those of us who are African Americans, the second word is “shiftless” and then there’s a third word that goes along with it [n*gga].”

Birther, the whole Birther Movement…why do senior republican leaders tolerate this type of discussion in the party?

Bravo, Powell!

Powell doesn’t belong to a group within his party that he can return to after interviews such as this one for support, making him COURAGEOUS. Rather, Powell remains the lone voice of reason among a sea of Republicans who are teeming with Birthers, psuedo-Tea Partiers, and right-wing conservatives like werewolves on a full moon.

If you turned on FOX News on any given day post-election, you would likely see that many Republicans were hellbent against having a truthful dialogue about why they really lost — and why they will likely continue to lose. Instead, they preferred to put the blame on the American public — complaining that we are somehow less moral and less American than past generations — rather than acknowledge that it is their own racist, xenophobic, elitist ways that got them there.

For those who think that Powell has abandoned his party, Powell clarified:

“I’m a moderate, I’m a Republican, and until I had voted for President Obama twice, I had voted for seven Republican Presidents.

…

“I’m a Republican who grew up along with George Bush 41, I grew up with Ronald Reagan, Cap Weinberger, Frank Carlucci — that Republican party, the Republican party of Dick Lugar, and John Tower, but in recent years, there’s been a significant shift to the right and we have seen what that shift has produced: two losing presidential campaigns.”

For those of you who aren’t clear, Powell is repping that party, not THIS one.

Here’s something else Powell possesses that most of his party lacks: balls.